New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-04-04
AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS.
THE VIEWS OF MEssRs. HOLT AND MEAD.

THE VIEWS OF NESTS. HOLT AND MEAD.
THE FRENCH SYSTEM IMPRACrICABLE HE"E-Co""
PIiCATrONs or PROFrT-sHARING.
cr.s rur TRIBUNE began ascertaning the views OF
publishers regarding thcir relations to authors no
subirct of p:Ont sharing az 1t exists Ia Ensapo al"
ROYALTY az that system is In use in this country anu "
other phases of the financial relations OF TINS CLASS
producers and middemen. both puonsnae "u
authors have boon thinking and Saying great dea Oh
the subject. Messrs Scrbner. Webster harper 'a'
nam and other publishers all declare tneir ecsio or
an international copyright, as matter OF justice u
the author and in the interests o, goou
we'll a good paper to print 1t on All these publishers
have asserted that within their experience with BRUSH
nub,hers they had discovered no indication that their
foreign brethren had undertaken to deprlve 'heir
antnors of the amount due them the prohtsharng
plan And vet it was pointed out by Que publisher,
Who did not wish his ne to be mentioned that there
was plausible basis tor the ertions OF MT besant
as TO for the advantage OF the pub
Usher. This publisher said:
@The system of long accounts in England certainly
does give the British publisher Opportunity 10 nuke
money ut both ends and in that sense to deraud inc
author of bis Just profits PAD ishers who pay c"sh ee
n discount on paper advertising. binding ana on al
the material used In making up book. Np~' supPose
m anthor ia TO have half the profits on DOCK
The publisher makes out his statement pased OH tue
regular prices of material, ETC., and the prohts result
ing thus appear the books And tins account Is
madc ont on the prices as existing on long creu't'
But the publisher has paid cash he gete discount
and this discount does not appear on the books lhcre
IL precisely the point where opportunity to misiead OF
cheat or derand the author. or whatever you CHOOSE
TO cal it, comes in OF course it may be said that II
the publisher situated that he can pay cash. he Is
entitled to the discount he can get and that the autnor
has no right to share in the benefits. But that TINS
conaition OF affairs exists haze reason to believe Is
true"
Henry Holt, whose opinion was first asked upon the
question OF relative profits tor author ana pnohsoer
1rl,a ftrrH Qntn
question IN the consider alton OF the financial relations
OF author and publisher is that o osssharng as lnere
losses tor great many more BOOKS tnan here are
Profits That seems to be phase OF this discussion
which has been entirely ignored. From what see in
the newspapers it seems that the statements gong
the rounds that French publishers pay authors one
third the rel all price of every book that is sod Ac
cording to our of prices that would be
even if every book succeeded tor onethrd the retai
price represents about all the gross roht above the
mere cost of paper printing and binding, to say moth
ing of the type setting and the ADVERTISING NOW, inc
fact is that OF the books by unknown authors even
more than in five does any more than pay pare
expenses; good deal more than one in i've ran even
to pay expenses. &c. mantesty, under any condtons
that prevail in this country, the French method winch
the news paper reports seem to indicate that Mr. Be
SAINT indorses s ii it is correctly reported absolutely
imprac tcable but doubt il it IL correctly reported.
rs from our oint OF view it seems too absurd.
Somettdy has got to bear the losses ana the ex
take the risk as they have to n the vast msory OF
cases, anybody will invent any way OF meeting them
except BY having books meet inem sn1ma
Perhaps II all the people who blame publishers l0i q
lack OF public spirit tor sometimes declining such risks
would unite to take them themselves method would
be discovered.
."It is all nonsense about publishers business
being an exception to all other bus nesses ~ that re-
gard There great many businesses AL those IN
which and fashion psy part-where many fail-
ules have to be paid for by one SUCCESS Wallpaper
designs for instance much nearer the extreme IN
this regard than books are only the designers of wall
paper do not happen to be writers ana speakers 10 cali
attention IL cir case while the authors OF books are
AS to the English onehalt profits system IN Eng
land and in Europe generally they are Ill the habit OF
going into petty details to an extent which We do not
In this country it entirely different tom the Amer
ican way OF doing things for publishers to go into the
'one-haf profits system which would obllSe them to
keep a mass of accounts OF petty "details regarding
books, the majority Of which afford profits or one
halt profits anyhow. The sliding scale system, dis
cussed in Tine Critic year or two ago, by which
larger per cent should be paid on large scale than
for small one is reasonable in regard TO general
literature but unreasonable in regard TO school
books where increased sale generally means an i'll
creased proportionate oatlay on the publishers part
in pushing.
As to the charges unfairness. wonder II Ameri-
publishers have as many made against them as
English publishers do don't seem TO hear as many
think there are very Jew prominent In the trace
here who would be stupid enough to set their own
clerks an example of dishonesty and they cannot be
dishonest without their clerks knowing II.
1As lar as the receipts of American authors are con-
cerned it to me that any newspaper must be
pretty hard up Tor subject that thinks that i'll the
absence Of international copyright law these re-
ceipts can be large to justify much discussion
Since the old courtesy OF the trade broke down, the
competition of Looks which taken without pay
and sold in the cheapest possible forms has driven
away the American authors natural chances OF a
Edward S. Mead, of Dodd Mead a. Co., expressed
his views as follows
The trouble with the halt profits account as i;
lists IN England is the difficulty that arises in deciding
the actual OF the book, because so many items
enter into the account for instance the proportion OF
the expense for carrying the business, OF the adj
vertisng here several books are advertised ogeher
etc 1t ridiculous for the author to say az has been
urged believe that he should have onethcd OF the
retail price. Supposc book sells ut 81 90 take of
40 per cent the trade and tina. leaves the publisher
80 cents; deduct the authors 30 cents and the
publishcr hae only 40 cents Tor the entire n anc ex
psnse of production Any busness arrangements
where the terms not strictly defined are sure to be
unsatisfactory to the persons Immediately concerned
and the half profits system is open to tDat objection
because have said, OF the difficulty OF bxlng the
expense items, and that cannot be done in advance.
As an example OF the state of mind CT authors gen.
orally on the subject OF property rights illustration
may be found in letter which was published IN
daily paper in this city not long ago IN when some
friends OF Dana the author OF Two Years Before the
Mast complained that he had received only 500 Tor
his work Gut that since that time the book had bad
large sale and his heirs Justly entitled to returns
accordingly. Now. that book had been sold outright
1t Mr.. Dana bad sold piece of Broadway property OF
his -supposng the case-and the purchaser had Iort
unately made - large sum OF money out OF IT. how
would it appear for his heirs assgrecs TO come tor
ward and say that they were justly entitled to the
benefits of it
.As to our own firm. we publish Ito books rule,
on hich we do not assume the risk. On the royalty
system 10 question of differences comes up The
author is liberty choose mis- publisher and,
in any other business, he should deal wish house in
good standing one IN which he has confidence. and
then difficulty will arise regsd ding accounts. Here
the publisher buys the manuscript outright or gives
ROYALTY and so the mDlic atoms OF the English
TEN are unknown. The only complaint OF which i
know comes from those whose books t. be fail
ures and, you know it requires strong character TO
take defeat With cheerfulness or even colpposurc.
AS TO whether author should sell mis- manuscript
outright take royalty. there can be no question
that Il he can foregO immediate payment IL is much
more profitable thing for him to take royalty. Take,
for instance the of +. p Roe, probably the most
popular American author The royalty on his last
book He Fell in Love With His Wife has already
brought him in $1,000 within the first ak
months and he has still torty-one years III which he
can receiv. returns from the sales. Under such cir
Mr.. Roe would be foolish to sell his work
aLn nll ho